Deeper Samurai Kyo ...

i just went by my old haunts and found that my old manga rental place was still around ... so i went in and rented the rest of Kamijyo Akimine's Samurai Deeper Kyo (vol 27-35) that i haven't read, and i'll have to say, Naruto and Bleach are good .... but there is very very little that will come close to Samurai Deeper Kyo. Ignore the crappy anime (yes, i'm sure ancient blacksmiths knew how to graft gatling guns on people's arms), get the manga.

At the end of volume 35, there are more characters than you can count. There is the main character, Demon Eyes Kyo (obviously), who is the anti-hero of this story. He's cruel, he's ruthless, but somehow, he has a loyal dedication to his "servants". He is stuck inside the body of Kyoshiro Mibu, who is a happy-go-lucky herbalist, accused of dine-and-dash ... quite innocent compared to the bloodthirsty devil that resides inside him. We learn later on that Kyo's soul was subdued and forced inside Kyoshiro's body. Just the first volume raises a lot of questions: how did his soul get trapped inside Mibu's body? How did he get subdued, if he is truly the man who slaughtered countless thousands on the battlefield. Despite the random influx of new characters (there is guarenteed 3 in every volume), they're all seperate beings with their own personalities. There's always some little fight or inside joke that the characters have, through which the readers know more and more, such that you can't help but get attached to them. Yuya's the "street-smart" bounty hunter who is determined to capture Mibu for the reward, but just like the story, things quickly escalade into more and more serious things. The story develops in such a way that it's just enough for you to handle, but just when you think you've figured it out, it gets more and more complicated. And the humour! The fights get bloody and ridiculous, but Kamijyo Akimine consistently manages to defuse tense situations with humour. You never know whether it will be another huge fight, or whether someone will have a tree fall on them.

Without giving away spoilers, i'll have to say: beware the people who smile. the more they smile, the crazier their power.